Ours is a felicitous time to be alive for all lovers of the
operatic voice: there are more recordings of better (clearer)
quality available of Caruso, Tetrazzini, Chaliapin or Supervia,
than were available during the lifetimes of these extraordinary
artists. It is also true that some voices record better than
others. I have never myself been able to join in all the rejoicing
about Melba. What comes out of the speakers doesn’t tally
with contemporary accounts. I conclude that the lady had something
they didn’t manage to get onto record. As a rule of thumb,
small voices gain greatly in the recording studio, while big
voices often suffer. This came home to me recently in playing
a recording of Birgit Nilsson to a young friend who hadn’t
heard her live. He couldn’t understand my enthusiasm.
Only then, did I realise that in listening to the Nilsson recordings,
I was automatically adjusting my hearing to what I had heard
in the theatre, to what, in fact, was a mere shadow of the overwhelming musical/dramatic
effect of the necessary live performance. In three words, the
recording made sense to me only by an aural memory recollection I
was unconsciously making. Conversely, when I first heard Cecilia
Bartoli in an unamplified hall, I was convinced I had been
stricken with deafness. Since then, performances in discreetly
amplified theatres - all major opera houses now have this -
and the recordings, have me among her admirers for her impeccable
artistry. But all these singers are household names; what about
the superb voices of the past of whom no one has heard?

Rosalia Gertrudis de la Concepcion Diaz de Herrera y de Fonesca
was born into a distinguished Havana family on 17 November
1863 and at the beginning of her impressive career said to
her promoters, Call me Chalia - the affectionate diminutive
of Rosalia. So it was that she came to be known as Rosalia
Chalia in a chequered but remarkable career. The rare, existing
photos show her as petite with a cherubic face tending towards
plumpness. Her repertoire - amply illustrated on this CD -
was most remarkable, for its depths as well as its breadth.
Which other soprano do you know who can make a memorable impression
as Semiramide and as Rosina in Il Barbiere? These are
the opening tracks. Rossini certainly had two different voices
in mind for these roles. Isabella Colbran (by then his wife)
created the role of Semiramide in 1823; though he already knew
Colbran in 1816, he chose a very different voice to create
Rosina.

It is impressive indeed that Chalia delivers on both roles,
albeit within certain licences of 1900, the year she recorded.
Both had to be got onto seven inch Zonophone discs, so there
are some abrupt, jerky changes of tempo not called for by Rossini.
There are liberal interpolations of Rosina’s vocal line,
accommodating remarkable vocal fireworks, even when ignoring
the character’s coquetry. But it is the voice itself
which we feel grateful to know. The high notes have a beautifully
clear, bell-like ring and seem effortless. The low notes are
shot through with a rich, secure darker colour. That might
sound like two voices in one, but there is a confident musicality
welding them perfectly together. Never mind if she fails to
deliver on certain aspects of character. This is a voice which
has something interesting to communicate of both roles.

The Emperor of Historic Recording himself -Ward Marston - has
made these transfers on his own label. As usual, he doesn’t
disappoint. It is not only the archaeological researching to
excavate from public and private sources perfect copies which
have been rarely or never played but the supreme finesse of
his ear in removing surface sound without touching any qualities
of the voice - a skill which requires millimetres of perfect
aural judgement. The 1900 discs have surface noise aplenty
but the voice is as clear as if she were in the room with you.
There is less “interference” in the 1912 recordings,
but by then the voice had begun to show signs of wear and the
intonation is less than perfect.

Sopranos tend to specialise in either the first half of the
nineteenth century, crowned by Rossini or the second half where
Verdi is king. Chalia serves both admirably. She gets a nice
combination of turbulence and sparkle into Ah fors’ è lui
(Traviata) but her final Traviata aria - Addio del passato
- comes out as more menacing than menaced. Most impressive
of all, is the Ballo in Maschera aria - Ma dall’ arido
stelo divulso in which she combines dramatic thrust with
real beauty of sound as nowhere else on this disk.

There are some charming Spanish numbers which are adequate
enough, though here one longs for the voice of Supervia to
do justice to their nuances. I dreamt that I dwelt in marble
halls and The Last Rose of Summer, together with
Arditi’s Il Bacio are better vehicles for Chalia’s
enormous talent.

The recordings which the great Edwardian actress, Ellen Terry
made towards the end of her life, alas give us no indication
of what made her great. We need to rely on contemporary evidence.
Fortunately, Virginia Woolf was to hand. She wrote in her notebook, Shakespeare
could not fit her, nor Ibsen; nor Shaw. But there is, after
all, a greater dramatist than Shakespeare, Ibsen or Shaw. There
is Nature … now and again Nature creates a new part,
an original part. The actors who act that part always defy
our attempts to name them … And thus while other actors
are remembered because they were Hamlet, Phedre, or Cleopatra,
Ellen Terry is remembered because she was Ellen Terry.

So it is that Rosalia Chalia will be remembered because she
was Rosalia Chalia. And fortunately, Ward Marston was on hand
to bring her to our attention and to give us a perfectly focused
reproduction of her greatness. There is a two-part interview
with Marston talking about this recoridng on Youtube (Part
1 and Part
2).

Hers is an immediately recognisable,
highly individualistic voice. No lover of exceptional voices
will want to be without this CD.

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